CSR: India to Subsidise sales of EVs

With rising pollution levels, the countries across the world are pushing for more sustainable solutions in order to reduce the carbon footprint from every sector. One of the major contributors to an increased level of carbon emissions is the transport industry.

The US publisher ward has estimated that there were over 1.015 billion motor vehicles used in the world as of 2010. The use of motor vehicles has increased very significantly over the last few years and would be significantly higher by now. In order to control carbon emissions, Electric vehicles (EVs) have been accepted as the best solution for the transportation industry.

In India, there are more than 200 million registered motor vehicles as of 2015. In order to reduce the emissions caused by them, the government of India is making attempts to introduce more electric vehicles in place of these motor vehicles. This has caused many EV manufacturers to take interest in the Indian market and enter it to design special vehicles for the Indian consumers.

EVs have been widely accepted in the global market and is starting to gain a lot of attention in India as well. To encourage more use of EVs in the country, Niti Aayog has proposed giving purchase rebate as an incentive to buyers of these vehicles. “The incentivisation mechanism under FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicle) would bring upfront price parity between the internal combustion engine and electric vehicles and since the operating cost of EV is considerably lower than ICE, the ecosystem is bound to flourish at an unprecedented rate,” NITI Aayog said in a statement.

According to this new proposal, the Union cabinet will approve an incentive of Rs. 10,000 per kWh (Kilowatt hour) to purchase EVs directly linked to battery size under the FAME II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicle) scheme. This means that there will be savings of Rs. 20,000 to 40,000 for two-wheelers that are fitted with a 2-4 kWh battery, Rs. 50,000 to 100,000 for three wheelers with 5-10 kWh battery and Rs. 1.5-2.5 lakhs for four wheelers with 15-25 kWh battery.

By subsidising EV sales, the government intends to help the EV industry in India grow and become self-sustainable with increased sales. The scheme would also help the government in controlling fuel import and reduce India’s dependency on imported fuel.

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